BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The present invention relates to a conveyor assembly for strip material, and is especially advantageous for use on tire forming machines, to which the following description refers purely by way of example.
On machines of the aforementioned type, the carcass of the tire is formed on a collapsible drum to which a green rubber tread ply is supplied by a conveyor assembly.
The conveyor assembly normally features a guide device, which cooperates with the tread ply to keep it as straight as possible as it is fed on to the collapsible drum, and which is normally defined by two centering rollers mounted for rotation about respective axes, perpendicular to the traveling plane of the tread ply, and located in respective fixed positions symmetrical in relation to a reference axis to define a passage of given width.
Known conveyor assemblies of the above type not only present the drawback of forcing the ply through said passage and so subjecting it to harmful transverse deformation, but are also unsuitable for use in systems producing tires of different sizes, in which case, any change in size normally involves dismantling the entire guide device.
Moreover, known conveyor assemblies of the above type normally require the assistance of skilled personnel to insert the tread ply between the centering rollers.